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{\title }
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{\author Gene Fry}
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\f0\b\fs24 \cf0 July 2012 Hottest Month Ever in US\
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\b0 \cf2 August 8, 2012 (CNN & AP) \cf3 - \cf0 The July heat wave that wilted crops, shriveled rivers and fueled wildfires officially went into the books Wednesday as the hottest single month on record for the continental United States. The average temperature across the Lower 48 was 77.6\'b0F, 3.3\'b0 above the 20th-century average, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration reported. That edged out the previous high mark, set during the Dust Bowl in 1936, by 0.2\'b0F, NOAA said.\
In addition, the 7 months of 2012 to date are the warmest of any year on record and were drier than average as well, NOAA said. U.S. forecasters started keeping records in 1895. Moreover, the past 12 months have been the warmest of any such period on record, topping the mark set a month ago.\
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\cf0 Every U.S. state except Washington experienced warmer-than-average temperatures, NOAA reported. \cf4 32 states had months that were among their 10 warmest Julys, but only Virginia had its hottest July on record. That's a bit unusual, but that it shows the breadth of the heat and associated drought.\cf0 \
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\cf4 Three of the nation's five hottest months on record have been recent Julys: This year, 2011 and 2006. Julys in 1936 and 1934 round out the top five. "It's a pretty significant increase over the last record," said climate scientist Jake Crouch of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. In the past, skeptics of global warming have pointed to the Dust Bowl to argue that recent heat isn't unprecedented. But Crouch said this shows that the current year "is out and beyond those Dust Bowl years. We're rivaling and beating them consistently from month to month."\
\cf0 \cf4 The U.S. this year keeps setting records for weather extremes, based on the precise calculations that include drought, heavy rainfall, unusual temperatures, and storms. \cf0 The high temperatures have contributed to a "rapid expansion" of drought\cf5 \cf0 across the central United States, NOAA found. Dozens of cities and towns already have seen the mercury hit record levels this summer, and three states -- Nebraska, Kansas and Arkansas -- saw record dry conditions between May and July.\
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\cf4 In 2011, the heat was centered mostly in Oklahoma and Texas. But this summer "the epicenters of the heat kind of migrated around. It kind of got everybody in the action this month," Crouch said.\cf0 \
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\cf4 But it's not just the heat that's noteworthy. NOAA has a measurement called the U.S. Climate Extreme Index which dates to 1900 and follows several indicators of unusually high and low temperatures, severe drought, downpours, and tropical storms and hurricanes. NOAA calculates the index as a %, which mostly reflects how much of the nation experience extremes. In July, the index was 37%, a record that beat the old mark for July last year. The average is 20%.\
For the first 7 months of the year, the extreme index was 46%, beating the old record from 1934. This year's extreme index was heavily driven by high temperatures both day and night, which is unusual, Crouch said. "This would not have happened in the absence of human-caused climate change," said Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann.\
Crouch and Kevin Trenberth, climate analysis chief of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said what's happening is a double whammy of weather and climate change. They point to long-term higher night temperatures from global warming and the short-term effect of localized heat and drought that spike daytime temperatures.\
Drought is a major player because in the summer "if it is wet, it tends to be cool, while if it is dry, it tends to be hot," Trenberth said.\
So the record in July isn't such a big deal, Trenberth said. "But the fact that the first seven months of the year are the hottest on record is much more impressive from a climate standpoint, and highlights the fact that there is more than just natural variability playing a role: Global warming from human activities has reared its head in a way that can only be a major warning for the future."\
\cf0 The drought has battered American farmers' corn and soybean crops, driven farmers to sell or slaughter cattle they can't feed, and spurred the U.S. Department of Agriculture to designate more than half of all U.S. counties as disaster zones.\
\cf4 Here are some more numbers unlikely to provide cold comfort. The coolest July on record was in 1915. The coldest month in U.S. history was January 1979 with an average temperature of 22.6\'b0F.\
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\cf0 www.cnn.com/2012/08/08/us/temperature-record/index.html; \cf4 http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ouch-july-us-was-hottest-ever-history-books}